the anomaly
by EphemeralFlames
Summary: this is a "stardew valley gothic" inspired fic. in which the farmer is an anomaly- or, anna-molly. she is an eldritch horror that delights in observing and documenting behaviors of various creatures. M for future themes. Tentative OC x Shane
1. the greeting

(Also posted over on Ao3 under the same name)

you have no idea when that new farm girl showed up. she just seemed to appear out of nowhere.  
she's quiet, with pale skin and black hair. she always wears dark clothes, even in the dead of summer.  
her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. oh yoba, her eyes. you feel like she can stare straight through you.  
you shudder; no use dwelling on someone you don't care about. but your thoughts continually drift back to the new farmer as you slide cans onto store shelves.  
she seems so comfortable here. and yet so alien. she suddenly seems like she is friends with everyone, and yet the only time you see her is at town events. the only time she has ever spoken to you was to give you a gift for your birthday.  
she had never talked to you before, or your aunt for that matter, but she knew that pepper poppers were your favorite.  
you tended to avoid her after that.  
'SHANE!' a piercing, sickly-sweet voice broke through your train of thought. 'Joja doesn't pay its employees to daydream~!'  
ugh. Morris. you mutter to yourself and inspect the label on the can in your hand. Glucose-Covered Carrot Sticks, now with Extra Glucose!  
you shudder, then place the can onto the shelf. another mind numbing day.

you notice her next at the egg festival. she is in a large black sunhat, and a black dress that covered most of her skin. her sharp black gaze flicks up to meet your eyes. her smile of greeting seems lackluster. with a blink of her black eyelashes she was gone, across the square to talk to Lewis. he greeted her enthusiastically.  
you shake your head, trying to clear the daze that clouded your brain momentarily.  
'Uncle Shane?' Jas piped up from beside your hip, 'Why does anna-molly look at you so weird?'  
you look down at your god-daughter, wondering why she knew the farmer's name, 'She looks at me weird, Jas?' you are genuinely confused.  
her purple hair bobbed up and down. 'Yeah! She looks at you real weird all the time!'  
you make a face at her statement. you just want to be left alone, damn it. 'I think you're imagining things, Jas.' you tell her, shaking your head.  
Jas crosses her tiny arms and pouts at you. 'Am not!' she protests, sticking her tongue out. you poke it with your thumb, then smear her saliva on her forehead. you whisper, 'Simbaaa...' as she squeals and tries to wipe it off. subject averted successfully.

she approaches you one night in the saloon. it is pitch black out, the clock reads 10:30, and there is a thunderstorm raging. you are in the middle of contemplating whether or not to leave or have another beer when a mug of the blessed liquid is presented under your nose.  
you blink through your drunken haze and grasp the new glass in your hands- since when did those become so hard to operate?  
you look up to either thank or scorn the person giving said beverage to you, but your response dies in your throat with an inhuman gurgle.  
'hello shane.' she says, her black eyes peering up at you through long onyx eyelashes. you swear you can't tell the difference between the color of her eye and her pupil.  
you stammer out a response, alcohol causing your tongue to become clumsy. 'I-ah-uh-h-hello, uh...?' you halt in your stuttering to realize that you can't remember her name.  
she giggles, raising a delicate hand to hide her smile. something in her eyes flashes. 'my name is anna-molly.' she murmurs, then drops her hand to her own pint of ale- where did that come from?  
'Hello then, Anna-Molly,' you start, 'Thanks for the pint.' you figure it's best to just thank her. you...don't really want to get on her bad side. you just want to finish your beer and get home and not get soaked in the process.  
'so, shane, do you enjoy spice?' anna-molly asks, taking a small sip of her drink. her gaze is inspecting a painting on the wall.  
'I mean, I guess- wait, why are you talking to me?' you blunder over your sentences. fucking great shane, there you go again.  
she is silent for a while. half of her glass is gone before she answers, 'because i want to know more about you. i am curious. why do you sit in the corner, alone? why do you never smile? what keeps you up at night, shane dawson?'  
you are halfway through your last gulp of beer and half of it exits through your nostrils. the fucking nerve of her-! poking into your life like that? examining your traumas like you were a test subject?  
you slam your glass down and stand up. the pent up rage in your gut silences your voice. you stomp towards the door of the saloon, pulling your hood up over your head. you feel a small hand grasping your hand and you whirl around  
she is looking up at you, your eyes meet again- wait, weren't her eyes just black-?

you don't remember getting home, but you are standing in your room, feeling slightly queasy and very drunk. and most importantly, dry.  
you stumble as waves of vertigo hit you, and you flop down on your bed. there is something in your hand. looking reveals it to be a small, flat black pebble, about the size of a quarter.  
you swallow thickly, the burn of beer still in your nose.  
you look at the clock.  
it reads 10:30.


	2. the sickness

it always rains after she gets upset. that is one thing you noticed a trend in; whenever you witnessed one of the townsfolk upset or otherwise annoy anna-molly, it would rain the very next day.  
once, during the luau, you saw that idiot Sam and his dumb friend Sebastian sneak their way behind her on the pier and shove her, screaming, into the waters below. when she emerged from the swell of the tide, she looked like a drowned cat. she had said nothing, looked at no one, as she left. her shoes squeaked with every step.  
you couldn't help but feel bad for her.  
the next night, however, was the worst tempest that the valley had seen in ages. two stray branches blew into both Sam and Sebastian's houses that night.

these thoughts rush through your head as you gaze out the window you're washing in front of you. it's shitty out, dark and misty and honestly kind of creepy. it's been fucking shitty like this for days. but ah well, it's quittin time. you give the glass one last cursory squeak with your towel before plodding back towards the JojaMart Corp(R)(TM) supply closet. you shove your armful of shit in there haphazardly; Sam will have to deal with it tomorrow. you made a beeline for the door- sweet, lovely freedom, you could already taste the ale on your lips-!

'shane?' her tiny voice comes from your right. you freeze, look over;  
'Uh, hi Anna-Molly.' you mumble; your last interaction is still stinging in your memory. you don't like people prying into your business. you bite back a, 'why the fuck are you talking to me?' because you don't want your head taken off today because booooooooooooooooooooooooooy she looks upset. you aren't really sure whether or not to ask her if she needs a doctor or a hug.  
'could you help me find something?' she asks. her voice is quieter and scratchy. jesus, her eyes are puffed up to shit too. she's all bundled up in what looks like a wool dress and a thick coat. your last remaining brain cell finally puts two-and-two together and presto hey-o, you realize she's sick. you nod sagely. you know what to do.  
'This way.' you say, leading her to your pharmaceuticals aisle. you gesture towards your cough and cold medicine section and say, 'Knock yourself out. Well, not really, don't take too much of that NyQuil shit, that'll fuck you up, but, shit, you know what I mean.' your sentence trails off into a mumble. she immediately starts to browse some of the different concoctions.

you look down at the petite woman and see the corner of her lip perk up and a giggle come from her, unfortunately, that giggle triggered a horrendous bout of coughing and hacking. so much that you stepped away. several times. it takes her a moment to catch her breath  
'I mean, uh, you sure you want this shit? maybe you should see Harvey instead,' you suggest to her. she braces herself against the display and stumbles a bit.  
'n-no, i'm fine, i just... need somethin' to stay... awake...' as her sentence progresses you can see her eyes start to roll back in her head. thankfully you're close enough to catch her falling but oof- for such a tiny chick, she's definitely all there. you stumble, before looping your arm under her legs and placing her gently on the floor. her head lolls to the side, but hey, she's breathing. you pat her face a couple times.  
'Hey, c'mon, wake up.' you say, half annoyed and half expecting some stupid shit like this to happen. well, at least it was the end of your shift.  
you pull your hood up over your hair and stoop down, slipping your arms under anna-molly's legs and arms. with a grunt, you lift her off the floor.  
not even bothering to give Morris a side glance, you walk out of JojaMart and towards Harvey's clinic, speedwalking but not quite running. you don't have THAT much effort in you. after a minute or two of spedwalking, you come across the clinic, and- Yoba fucking damn it. closed.

you huff and then reconsider your options; drop her at home. no, you aren't leaving her alone when she's this sick, that would just be cruel. you could pawn her off on another townsfolk? you run through the options in your head. the only person you've seen her comfortable with is Abigail. but you have your doubts of her competence.  
you sigh and realize there's one last option, and you turn your tracks to Marnie's farm.  
as you walk through the slightly eerily misty village, you glance down at anna-molly's face. she honestly kind of looks like a doll, sickly and pale. she wasn't a wisp of a person by any means, but you could feel her bones poking at you through her thick clothes. she just looked fragile, like if you dropped her she would shatter on the grounds. you suppose she looks worse now than she usually does, since she's obviously sick.  
you plod along the path past Sam's and Emily's houses, and you notice it's getting darker quicker than normal. you hurry along, a nagging feeling prickling down your spine. you just need to get home asap, yup, just keep walkiiinggg...

*SNAP*

FUCK THIS SHIT YOU ARE OUT OF HERE

you booked it for home, throwing caution to the wind. you didn't really care that you were jostling anna-molly around, you're more focused on absconding the fuck out of there,  
the sight of the farm was a welcome one, a cheery lamp post lighting the front yard. you ran to the door, thanking Yoba that it was unlocked, and barged into the house, slamming the door behind you.  
Marnie, your aunt, just about leapt out of her seat at the kitchen table, exclaiming, 'What the hell, Shane?'  
you look at her, adrenaline subsiding, and you give her a sheepish grin before turning your attention to the girl in your arms. 'anna-molly passed out and Harvey is nowhere to be found. I think she's got a fever or the flu or something.' you guess haphazardly, grasping at straws. you don't really know much about medical shit.  
but, thankfully, Marnie rushed forwards and buncled anna-molly out of your arms and into hers, and she laid the poor girl onto the couch. you sit down at the table and let Marnie do her thing.

Marnie busied herself a few minutes, situating anna-molly on the sofa comfortably. her eyes fluttered open for a moment and a mumble of, 'mmmrni...?' escaped her chapped lips. but that was all, and she fell back into a deep sleep. Marnie frowned and felt her forehead.  
'She does have a fever, a high one at that. We should get her to Harvey's as soon as he opens tomorrow.' Marnie said with a finality that meant you had no say in any of it. of course, you wouldn't object. you don't like people but you wouldn't just leave someone needing help.  
you sigh and scrub your face with a hand. you're fucking tired. you announce this to Marnie while making a beeline for your room. before she can give any protest, your door is shut and you are in your own personal safe haven.  
time to fuckin take a nap.


	3. the sniffles

**got really stuck on this chapter.**

you stare down at the lump of blanket on the couch. under said blanket was the strangest girl you have met, anna-molly. last night you brought her home because of an unfortunate series of events and due to those events, you are currently drinking your first beer at 8 AM.

thank Yoba it's Saturday.

you sit in your recliner, bottle in hand, waiting for Dr. Harvey to come by to check out the pallid girl. your aunt Marnie told you, before running off to Yoba knows where, that she had been waking up periodically during the night in a feverish babble. your aunt had a disturbed look on her face but would say no more.

you figure she must have been having some real weird fever dreams to freak out your usually placid aunt. Marnie had taken Jas with her as well so she wouldn't catch what anna-molly might have.

at the end of your musings, you look down and frown, finding the bottom of your beer bottle. you stand up and retrieve another one and throw the old bottle into the recycle.

you sit back down and twist the top off and take another swig. you felt slightly warmer around the ears and a little happier than when you woke up. you observe the lump of blanket for who knows how long, drinking beer after beer, before a resounding knock cracked through your daze. you look down and find the bottom of your fifth beer.

grumbling, you stood and make your way to the front door, depositing the beer bottle in the recycling along the way. you yank the door open unceremoniously to find the gently smiling Doctor, bright morning sunshine enshrining his arrival. you stare at the smiling man for a hot second before asking, "yo can you get this lump of human off my couch?" in a rather groggy and grumpy way.

Dr. Harvey's smile fell and a vaguely confused, albeit concerned look replaced it. he stammered, "G-good morning, Shane. Your aunt told me that miss anna-molly was here, sick."

you level your most deadpan stare at him then stepped aside, motioning towards the living room. Dr. Harvey proceeded to the lump on the couch, knelt down, donned some bring purple nitrile gloves, and gently shook anna-molly's shoulder. "Miss anna-molly, it's Doctor Harvey, I've come to check up on you." Dr. Harvey said gently as he increased the vigorousness of his shaking.

you turn your back and go back to the kitchen for another beer. just as you're popping the cap off this one, you hear Dr. Harvey's startled shout, an unidentifiable squelching noise, some thunking and scrambling noises from the next room. you cross the three or four steps it takes to get to the living room and peer your head around the corner to see Dr. Harvey sitting on the floor with a stricken and horrified expression on his face, and anna-molly sitting up on the couch, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and yawning.

Dr. Harvey reached for his bag while keeping his eyes firmly trained on anna-molly, stood shakily, and said to you, "I-I t-think s-s-she j-just n-needs s-s-some b-b-bed r-rest. B-b-b-b-bye!"

by the end of his sentence he was out the door and you have no idea what the everloving fuck just happened but you really aren't going to question it.

you look at the eldritch horror sitting on your couch and see a sick, tired looking girl. she blinks owlishly at you and sniffles. no words are spoken but the message is conveyed. you turn around, beer still in hand, and retrieve your coat and shoes.

you return to the living room and anna-molly is bracing herself up against the arm of the couch, attempting to stand. you hesitate for a moment but a dark feeling brushes the back of your mind and you feel compelled to help her, which is what you do.

you loop your arm around her back and sling her arm across your shoulders, supporting her. you both start walking towards anna-molly's house.

it's like you're in a daze as you help the sick girl hobble back up to her creepy, overgrown farm. it's obvious she doesn't know what to do with the farm; but it's not like she wasn't trying. your head clears immensely the second anna-molly detaches herself from you at her front porch. it's as if a dark veil lifted from your mind.

she looks back at you over her shoulder and you see her smile, just a little bit.

you sit up in bed, cold sweat drenching your back. midday sunlight streams through your bedroom window, illuminating your room and the fact that you are fully clothed in bed. you look down. there is a black pebble in your hand.


	4. for the Halibut

**Thanks for reading still, I have no excuse for the long time between updates, other than crippling depression and self doubt.**

gentle waves brushed the white beaches of Stardew Valley, the sandy expanse decorated and full of townspeople. the Luau was in full swing, and so was the buffet. you're stuffing your guts with the delicious potluck, especially on this bowl of straight-up hot pepper chutney. the Governor loved the stew, so you knew you were going to be hearing about it until the next festival.

the smells wafting over from Linus's roast were making your mouth water again, but your stomach protested immediately. the chutney would be your last dish of the evening, followed by waddling home with a sleepy Jas in tow. a quick scan of the festivities located Vincent with his parents, but held no sight of Jas, who was supposed to be with the other resident kid.

your heartbeat immediately sped up as you realized you didn't spot your god-daughter. a frantic sweeping glance around the beach did nothing to assuage your anxiety- you set out to search the bay, bowl of chutney forgotten on the table. you searched the rocky beach, the buffet area, and the dance area before you spotted her little purple bow.

Jas sat beside anna-molly, on the pier, watching something in the water. you beelined straight for her, wanting to make sure she was safe; you weren't sure why, but you never felt _right_ around the new Farmer. of course, you shouldn't call her new; she had already been here for a year and some change. but that didn't mean she had your trust. honestly, trust was far from the term you'd use to describe your acquaintanceship with the dark haired girl. if anything, 'freaked-out' is what you would use.

you could hear Jas's never-ending stream of excited child babbling as he approached the pier, and noticed that anna-molly had her fishing pole in her hand. a mental note was made that Jas trusted anna-molly enough to talk to her in the first place. hanging back in the shadows, you eavesdropped in on the two for a moment,

"...and then uncle Shane flipped over this big rock and me and Vincent-"

"vincent and i, jas."

"Oh, okay, Vincent and I found a snake under the rock! Miss Penny told me it was a garter snake!"

you cocked a grin. Jas had unfortunately picked up your terrible street English and shitty accent from your upbringing in Zuzu city, but you thought it was kinda cute.

"did you know there are no venomous snakes in the valley, jas?" anna-molly asked, jerking her fishing pole enough to disturb the bobber.

"Yeah, miss Penny put together a class for us all about the snakes in the Valley! There are garter snakes and grass snakes and ribbon snakes and milk snakes and I think those are all of the snakes!"

anna-molly nodded along with her, then she became still, and Jas's stream of babble halted. anna-molly's hands grasped her purple fishing rod tightly enough that you could see the paleness on her knuckles. you watched with mild interest, Jas with _intense_ interest, as the farmer girl fought with and subsequently reeled in a rather large, dark fish.

"you know, Jas, some people ask me why I come fishing on the pier, instead of the lake or river. i tell them i just do it for the Halibut." she raised the aformentioned fish with one hand, face completely blank as she delivered that absolute killer.

you have to physically restrain yourself by covering your mouth to keep from laughing. Jas tittered at anna-molly's pun, and then said,

"Y' know, you an' uncle Shane would _like_ each other. He tells bad puns too." Jas delivered with a curling, devious smile. you roll your eyes heavily and begin to walk back to the Luau. you can see the two girls- kinda, you need glasses- from the party, and overhearing her humoring your goddaughter soothed the worry in your stomach.

you often let Jas go out with only Vincent, so she'll be fine with an adult that _most_ ( _but not you!_ ) townsfolk trust. plus you didn't need to hear Jas trying to set you up with another person. when you first got here she tried hooking you and Penny up, which obviously didn't work on account of your drinking, and her disdain for it.

with an eye on Jas and an eye on the festivities, your appetite was renewed from your panic walk. you return to your forgotten bowl of chutney, happily munching on the hot and sweet treat.

the festivities continued well past Jas's bedtime. with a mind to go find your goddaughter, you turn to your right and nearly shit yourself because anna-molly is standing there, Jas sleeping peacefully in her arms. she smiled up at you as she bundled her precious cargo into your own arms. you open your mouth to thank her, but something stops you short as her onyx gaze bores into your own. something deep within you stirs, a primal urge to _run, run away from the threat._ she reaches her _coldbonydead_ hand and touches your shoulder.

"good night, shane."

you blink and break eye contact, suddenly owl-eyed in the brightly lit front room, in contrast to the darkness of the beach. Jas stirs in your arms, and yawns, awakened from the jostling.

her little fists uncurl from her chest to reveal a small black pebble.


End file.
